Dr. Flora Murray had brought letters of introduction with her from Paris, and as the preparations for the hospital were nearing completion, accompanied by Dr. Garrett Anderson, she called at the headquarters of the Army Medical Service in Boulogne and presented the letters. In a bare little hotel bedroom with a hideous French wallpaper on the walls, they found two colonels and a soldiers’ table. The senior officer glanced at the correspondence and said:
‘We know all about the Women’s Hospital Corps here. Saw you in Paris. You are very welcome here. Have you got a place? How many beds can you give us?’
He seemed satisfied when the doctors answered that their ‘place’ with a hundred beds would be ready next day. In answer to their inquiry whether he would make use of it, he said:
‘Yes, to the fullest extent. I am Commandant here. You will be working directly under me. Will you take surgery? We need another operating station.’
Their hearts leapt within them; for all the time it had been their ambition to see women doctors working as army surgeons under the British War Office.
The conversation then took the form of instructions about registers, returns, reports and nominal rolls. The question of maintenance was discussed; and it was proposed to provide the hospital with rations and coal, as well as petrol for its ambulances.
‘Have you a quartermaster?’ he asked.
‘Yes, we have one,’ Dr. Garrett Anderson replied, mentally appointing Orderly Campbell to this post as she spoke.
It was arranged that the Château Mauricien should be attached to the Military Hospital in the Grand Hotel, and that the newly appointed quartermaster should understudy the quartermaster of that hospital. An official document was issued for her use:
To O. i/c. Supplies.